Philately and postal history
of the Former Soviet Union

After
the USSR: how 15 republics handled the mail

Background
Nearly 20 years ago the Berlin wall fell, and over the next few years
the countries of eastern Europe slowly moved from communism to free
elections. After the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union agreed to give up its monopoly of power in February
1990, Lithuania delcared reindependence in March, followed by Estonia
and Latvia later in the summer. Although the Soviet
authorities attemped to suppress nationalism the government recognised
the independence of the Baltic states on 6 September 1991 the Gorbachev
government continued to aim for an economic union of the remaining
states. However, Russian president Yeltsin decided to disband
the USSR in accordance with the Treaty of the Union of 1922 and thereby
remove Gorbachev and the Soviet government from power.

In Decmber 1991 the Ukrainian referendum voted for independence and
following this the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine declared the
Soviet Union dissolved, replacing it with the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS). There were doubts over
the validity of moves to effect the dissolution of the Soviet Union,
since they were signed by only five of the Soviet Republics. However,
on December 21, 1991, representatives of all member republics except
Georgia signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, in which they confirmed the
dissolution of the Union. That same day, all former-Soviet republics
agreed to join the CIS, with the exception of the three Baltic States.
By December 31, 1991, all official Soviet institutions had
ceased operations as individual republics assumed the central
government's role.

ConsequencesBeing
former constituents of the Union, the former autonomous republics
already had the trappings of nationalist status - flags, arms,
language, anthems - but they did not have their own postal services or
stamps. The creation of what was effectively 15 newly
independent states heralded an exciting period
of philately and postal history, as they declared independence or had
it thrust upon them. Some of these states had issued stamps before, but
others, whose status had been established by the USSR, were new. The
Baltic States - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - were well prepared for
their independent status due to close ties with Scandinavia and the
west, and issued stamps in 1991. Further east and south, other new
republics - not immediately able to create similar links - were left
stranded with only stamps of the USSR. These remained valid - at least
initially - but were not, of course, universally popular.

When
I started this sub-site
in 1998 I intended that these pages would provide information about
modern postal history in the
countries of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and wrote:

This is a vast and
under-researched area, and the pages will be expanded only slowly as my
collection is sorted and researched, so please be patient if everything
seems to be quiet for too long. The emphasis will be on text
information and images of stamps, etc, so you won't see a lot of fancy
graphics! Following this general introduction I
intend to provide detailed information on the modern philatelic
history of the 15 countries. There are some pages showing their stamps,
and the different ways they showed the postage paid on
letters.

Unfortunately I haven't had the
time, since 2002, to do any more
research into the thousands of covers that I have from Lithuania,
Kazakhstan, Russia and Georgia etc, but I am always hopeful that I will
be able to allocate some time to this again soon! Recent
changes to my GB new issue dealing activities, and interest in the FSU
area in an online forum have sparked my interest. Oh, and
since these pages were previously hosted by (Yahoo's) Geocities
organisation which has now decided to stop free hosting, it made sense
to move the pages to our own domain and to tidy them up along the way.
( For the record, and to help search engines, this information was
previously located at
www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/3337/fsu.html)

The
English versions of the
country and other placenames may be spelt in various
ways according to how the 'Russian' or Cyrillic spellings are
transliterated. I have tried to be consistent: the Ukrainian version of
Cyrillic is not the same as the Russian, and some of the central
asian republics are now using Turkic Latin alphabets, which are
different again. In these pages I refer to some of the semi-autonomous
areas within the former USSR countries, and may include some of the
background or history of these states. It is not my intention to offend
anybody from any of these areas or any of the adjacent areas with which
there may be or have been reported disputes. Apart from the philaelic
research, anything you read here has
been taken from British press reports, international publications,
reference books, or
from other internet sites.

Examples of the sort of
cover which sparked my interest in this area.

I had never collected the
stamps of the Soviet Union, my interests lying in British Commonwealth
and Scandinavia. But browsing at Stampex in London, probably
in 1993, I found the covers shown here:

POSTAL
HISTORY
embraces every aspect of postal services includes
the collection of stamps and postal labels on emvelopes or 'cover'.
Some collectors think that postal history should be confined to either
the pre-stamp period (ie before 1840), or at least to the 19th century.
Postal historians with a broader outlook recognise that postal history
is still being made. The use of, for instance, emergency provisional
stamps on cover is a vital part of philately.

Use of stamps on cover lends
credibility to those stamps, but
covers are not foolproof. Unfortunately some unscrupulous 'biznizmen'
in the countries of the FSU also manufactured bogus and forged
covers (some apparently between the different republics) using both
genuine and forged postmarks. So covers showing genuine internal
commercial use, and international use outside the FSU give more weight
to the validity of the stamps.

The
republics

Armenia.
Stamps were first issued in 1919
overprinted on
Russia; 1922 issued own definitives; 1923 used stamps of the
Transcaucasian Federation; 1924 used stamps of the USSR. Independent
state December 1991.

Azerbaijan.
Definitive stamps were first
issued 1919; in 1923
used stamps of the Transcaucasian Federation; in 1924 used stamps of
the USSR. Declared independent of the USSR August 1991.

At
present only
BELARUS
is represented in detail. There
are a number of pages with
illustrations of stamps, and covers with emergency surcharges and other
markings.Belarus' or
Byelorussia.
1920 issues allegedly from here are now believed to be bogus. Declared
independence in September 1991, the first stamps were issued in 1992. A
founder-member of the UNO, despite being part of the USSR.

Estonia.
Stamps first issued in 1918; Estonian SSR stamps in
1940; USSR, then German stamps used in 1941; USSR stamps used again in
1944. Declared independence 20 August 1991. Stamp issues again in 1991.

Georgia.
The 1919 issues of the Georgian republic inscribed in
French when Georgia was under Turkish, then British occupation (see
Batum in the catalogues). A Soviet republic in 1922, Georgia used
stamps of the Transcaucasian Federation from 1923. Declared
independence 9 April 1991. The first "GEORGIA" stamps were issued in
1993.

Kazakhstan.
A central asian republic which
declared independence from the USSR on
16 December 1991. First stamps in 1991.

Kirghizstan.
A central asian republic which
declared independence from the USSR in
September 1991. First stamps in 1991.

Latvia.
The first stamps in 1918 were printed on German army
maps. From 1944 stamps of the USSR were used, and in 1991 the first
stamps of the independent republic were issued, some overprinted on
USSR. Declared in May 1990 that Soviet occupation in 1940 was unlawful,
and independence conceded by USSR in September 1991.

Lithuania.
The first primitive stamps were issued in 1918. The
Lithuanian SSR was formed in 1940, and in 1941 German stamps
overprinted LIETUVA were used. From 1944 stamps of the USSR were used,
and the first stamps of the independent republic were issued in 1990.
Lithuania has used three currencies since 1990, with interesting
results, worthless kopeck stamps being twice revalued. Declared in
March 1990 that 1918 constitution was still valid; independence was
conceded by USSR in September 1991.

Moldova.
The stamp issuing territory of Moldavia and
Wallachia, which became Roumania, at one time included the whole of
Bessarabia. The border between the Soviet Union and the rest of Europe
moved frequently during the 20th century, and Bessarabia ended up in
the USSR, either in Moldavia or Ukraine. The Moldavian SSR became
Moldova in December 1991. Two regions declared independence from
Moldova in 1992.

Russia.
Until 1918 there was no country name on its stamps.
Kerensky's "broken chain" stamp was inscribed (cyrillic) ROSSIA, but on
all other stamps only intials were used, first RSFSR (PCíCP)
and in
1923 USSR, or CCCP. In 1991 stamps were inscribed ROSSIJA in latin and
cyrillic type. Local overprinted stamps were legally issued in the city
of St.Petersburg.

Tadjikistan.
A central asian republic which adopted a declaration of republican
sovereignty in August 1990. First stamps in 1991.

Turkmenistan.
A central asian republic which adopted a declaration of independence in
October 1991. First stamps in 1991.

Ukraine.
The first Ukraine stamps in 1918 were overprinted on
RSFSR stamps. Definitives were issued in 1919, and then Ukrainian SSR
stamps. In 1924 stamps of the USSR were overprinted YCCP, after which
USSR stamps were used unoverprinted. During occupation in 1941-3 German
stamps were overprinted UKRAINE. Independence was declared in December
1991 and brought a feeling of philatelic deja vu as USSR stamps were
overprinted with the trident symbol first used in 1918. The republic of
Crimea, politically and linguistically closer to Russia wanted
independence from Ukraine and issued overprinted USSR
&
Ukraine
stamps.

Uzbekistan.
A central asian republic which
adopted a
declaration of sovereignty in June 1990 and independence in August
1991. First stamps in 1991.

In the period 1989-91 the USSR
had issued 'omnibus' sets or series
of
stamps in a
theme, with a stamp for each republic. For one of these,
showing
traditional musical instruments, stamps were issued by the USSR in 1989
(4), 1990 (4), and 1991 (3), leaving the Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan,
Armenia and Estonia designs unissued. Only the Tadjikistan and
Turkmenistan designs were issued by the new republics, in 1992. Other
similar 'sets' include: